INTRODUCTION

The chemical formula for Sarin gas was forwarded to the Chemical warfare division of the German army at a Berlin-Spandau office during June 1939.Handling of the nerve agent at that time required the use of hydrogen fluoride (HF).Pilot plants were built at Spandau, Münster Lager, on Lüneberg heath, and pilot manufacture of Sarin was carried out in Building 144 in Dyernfurth.

Sarin gas was on full-scale production during that period time when Adolf Hitler was in power in Nazi Germany.Up to 10 tons of the gas was produced by the end of WWII.Latest use of Sarin was in the nerve gas attack of a Tokyo subway by the Aum Shinrikyo cult in 1995.

Obviously, its roots can be traced back to fact that Nazi Germany and Japan were in the Axis alliance during world war two, yet Japan never seemed to go ahead with the industrial synthesis of Sarin.

The infamous Sarin gas possesses a variety of names but it was entitled after its four pioneers namely Schrader,Ambros,Rudriger and van der LINde.Being classified as a toxic organophosphorus compound, Sarin like most other nerve agents,is colorless,odorless,tasteless and diffuses very rapidly into the human skin due to its high volatility.

Moreover, due to its high density, Sarin gas tends to drift above the ground for weeks if not months, depending on how much is used.Just for the record, Sarin is known to vapourise 36 times more rapidly than Tabun, is 26 times more deadly than cyanide, 21 times more lethal than potassium cyanide and all it takes is 0.01 mg for every 1kg of body mass for it to be fatal for a human.

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